WASHINGTON – Arizona senior Senator Kyrsten Sinema urged the release of additional CARES Act funding to health care providers in rural Arizona, with top priority to areas with COVID-19 outbreaks, high senior populations, and facilities with disproportionate share of Medicare, Medicaid, and uninsured Arizonans.
“We must release more aid to support our rural health care providers and save Arizona lives,” said Sinema.
Read Sinema’s bipartisan letter HERE.
The CARES Act and the subsequent Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act provided a combined $175 billion to the health care provider relief fund as a part of the coronavirus response. Two months later, HHS had only distributed $75 billion of the $175 billion, and the first distributions were weighted heavily to traditional Medicare providers, with smaller distributions to hard-hit hospitals, tribal providers, rural facilities, and skilled nursing. In June, after Sinema’s urging, the Department of Health and Human Services agreed to distribute an additional $15 billion to eligible providers participating in Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Programs who have not previously received provider relief funding, another $10 billion to safety net hospitals serving vulnerable populations, and an additional $10 billion for facilities serving a high number of hospitalized coronavirus patients. In Arizona, 10 Safety Net Hospitals received nearly $227 million.
Sinema has also added a resources page to her website, www.sinema.senate.gov/corona, with specific resources for Arizona seniors looking for the latest information on coronavirus.
